Lancer - you made the comments I was about to. One big reason less Euros come to the NHL is that Canadian and to some extent American player developement is far above what occurs in Europe where hockey is big but "football" is bigger.

Russian's are feeling the affects of the KHL, if that leagues starts suffering financial hardships expect to see more people come to the AHL/NHL when drafted. right now I would say it is a risky move to draft an ex USSR player who is not already over here unless it is the 6th/7th round.

The 26-year-old from Prague spent the last two seasons with Avangard Omsk of the KHL and will start his NHL career with the Flames. Cervenka totalled 54 goals and 46 assists in 105 games over those two seasons.

Lancer wrote:Another possible reason: more American players than before, pushing euros out? Don't have the time to do the math (at work and trying not to get busted), but maybe Per can put that on the graph.

You may be right on the "more US players". I thought I saw an article recently about hockey programs popping up in unlikely places like Texas.

The reason there's less pinko's playing in the NHL is because they aren't good enough to play. If there was a pinko Crosby out there an NHL club would have them. But there's not... believe me, there are very very few players in the world that would be stars in the NHL that aren't playing in the NHL.

Their numbers are dropping because the pinko's aren't good enough earn much more than the league minimum. Why bother coming over for the league minimum? Believe me we're not missing out on anything by having them play elsewhere.

Gibberish talking assholes! You ever hear those people talk? It makes no sense!

Lancer wrote:Another possible reason: more American players than before, pushing euros out? Don't have the time to do the math (at work and trying not to get busted), but maybe Per can put that on the graph.

Well, from my post:

Per wrote:In 2003/04, the last season before the lockout, there were 275 European skaters in the NHL, a whooping 30% of the player total. This season the number had fallen to a 195, or just under 22%, that means the number of Europeans playing in the NHL has fallen by nearly a third.

- - -

The number of Canadians has remained fairly stable. Roughly 54%. 481skaters in 00/01 and 480 this season, with a high of 494 (55%) in 03/04 and a low of 444 (52%) in 06/07. Instead it's the Yanks that pick up the slack. They have increased from 133 (15%) in 00/01 to 219 (almost 25%) this season.

OK, so basically the league has lost 80 Euros and 1 Canadian and picked up 86 US players.As I said, it's the Yanks that pick up the slack.

Whether Americans care more about hockey than Europeans do is debatable, but at least they grow up in a country that has NHL teams. Shrug.

Not sure what is cause and effect here, it can always be argued that the East Europeans (+Finns) were pushed out by the increase in American players, but it's kind of odd that that would coincide so well with the lockout and the start of the KHL. To me it seems more likely that the KHL took the opportunity to establish itself in the wake of the lockout and that many Slavic language players now prefer to play in Russia, thus leaving room for more American players in the NHL.

It is true that the top talent still tends to choose the NHL - as does pretty much all Swedish players - but the KHL offers better rewards for rookies and mid-level talent, so I guess any effect on the NHL would mostly be seen on the third and fourth lines of teams. There are some exceptions though, especially when it comes to Russians.

Per wrote:OK, so basically the league has lost 80 Euros and 1 Canadian and picked up 86 US players.As I said, it's the Yanks that pick up the slack.

K, my bad. Missed that part.

Topper wrote:It is true that the top talent still tends to choose the NHL - as does pretty much all Swedish players - but the KHL offers better rewards for rookies and mid-level talent, so I guess any effect on the NHL would mostly be seen on the third and fourth lines of teams.

Yeah, so much for your Martin Straka/Robert Kron/Andrei Kovalenko types in this league. Anybody miss them?

Thing is, the fact that fewer eastern euros and Russian draft picks are willing to pay their dues in the NA minors increases the risk for GMs. From a contract POV, it's not like they're burning off years before they can go UFA but because the KHL does not translate that well to the NHL game (hell, Shirokov is leading his team in scoring this year) it's hard to guage their effectiveness before signing them to the multi-million contract they would demand. Either they are a Malkin/Ovechkin type who are so once-in-a-blue-moon in that they can immediately transition to the NHL and will be your cornerstone or they're not going to invest anything more than a 3rd-round pick.

Per wrote:OK, so basically the league has lost 80 Euros and 1 Canadian and picked up 86 US players.As I said, it's the Yanks that pick up the slack.

K, my bad. Missed that part.

Topper wrote:It is true that the top talent still tends to choose the NHL - as does pretty much all Swedish players - but the KHL offers better rewards for rookies and mid-level talent, so I guess any effect on the NHL would mostly be seen on the third and fourth lines of teams.

Yeah, so much for your Martin Straka/Robert Kron/Andrei Kovalenko types in this league. Anybody miss them?

Thing is, the fact that fewer eastern euros and Russian draft picks are willing to pay their dues in the NA minors increases the risk for GMs. From a contract POV, it's not like they're burning off years before they can go UFA but because the KHL does not translate that well to the NHL game (hell, Shirokov is leading his team in scoring this year) it's hard to guage their effectiveness before signing them to the multi-million contract they would demand. Either they are a Malkin/Ovechkin type who are so once-in-a-blue-moon in that they can immediately transition to the NHL and will be your cornerstone or they're not going to invest anything more than a 3rd-round pick.

That is the key. Why wouldn't anyone want to be an instant millionaire instead of making peanuts in NA? I just hope MG would stay away from picking Russian unless the pick is within top five overall.